The Dragneel Affair | NaLu

Chapter 13 - A second and A First

Makarov was gone. He had left early that morning to get to their next destination, to be able to receive news and packages from Russia about the war. Erza was poking the remains of a fire with a stick as the others got ready for the trip to Nitra, the trip would have taken about most of the day.

The cat was seated on top of Lucy's belongings, which were either neatly folded or put away in her bag. Natsu's belongings were next to her, stacked up in a pile of dirty shirts, pants, and two blankets. Lucy stared at the pile as Natsu finished putting on his uniform. "Have you washed any of this recently?" She asked him.

He shrugged, "No. Well, depends. How long ago is recently?"

"A week, maybe two?"

"Oh! Haha, no. No, not recently."

"Do you remember when?"

"Christmas," Natsu stated. He was still chuckling from his earlier statement.

"You haven't washed these since Christmas?!"

"Yes. And I hadn't had a bath since Christmas, up until last week."

"Gross," Lucy said disgustingly.

"No, don't be like that." Natsu held out his arms to her and walked towards her. Lucy walked away, trying to avoid him. He picked up his pace and Lucy began to speed walk. Eventually the two were chasing each other around the campsite. Natsu caught her and the two fell to the ground, rolling in the mud and grass. The two came to a stop a good distance from the camp. Natsu was on top of her, laughing in the crook of her neck.

"Get off me, you're disgusting."

"You know that's not completely true. If it was, you wouldn't have kissed me."

"And I wouldn't do it again." She brought one of her hands up to his face and kissed him. He kissed her back, his arms propping him up on both sides of her head. She kissed his jaw and wondered how he could smell like campfire and meat instead of anything else.

• • •

Erza was trying her best to annoy Jellal, Loki and Gray were happy to join in. They sang old Russian folk songs, completely out of tune. Jellal walked next to Erza's horse, mumbling curses under his breath. Natsu joined in, hopefully saying the wrong words. Lucy sat in front of Natsu, watching Jellal. He was mumbling in French so she couldn't understand what he was saying. He looked up at Lucy and told her; "duck."

"What?" She asked him. He chose not to repeat himself and grabbed Lucy's shoulder, roughly pulling her off the horse. As she fell to the ground a bullet flew right past where her head would've been. The group turned into the direction of where the bullet came from. A French soldier was seated up in a tree. He groaned and lowered his gun. He spoke to Jellal but he didn't reply. The soldier turned his attention to Natsu, who was helping Lucy back onto her feet.

"Aye, Natsu! It's been a while, hasn't it!" The soldier exclaimed. Now that Lucy was standing, she could get a good look at him. He was a tan and muscular man with wild brown hair that didn't exactly flow behind him. It looked like it hadn't been washed in a long time and was stuck behind his head.

"What do you want, Cobra?" Natsu asked. Lucy looked around. Gray and Gajeel were loading their guns and Erza already had her's aimed at him. Lucy turned to Loki who was having trouble taking out his gun. The cat had jumped off into a bush and sat there, waiting to see what would happen.

"Who's this?"

"Eh, Cobra? He's part of a French army, and some of their strongest soldiers. The Oración Seis," He said. Lucy looked back at him. Cobra had landed safely onto the ground, gun over his shoulder.